When Worlds Collide
by Flawed and Forgotten
Summary: When Jacob phases and imprints on Bella, she begins to spend more time at La Push. She makes new friends, becomes a stronger person, and explores the relationship that she almost passed up with Jacob. But when the Cullen's come back to ask the pack for help defeating a powerful enemy, what will Edward think of her new life?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: In this story Bella and Jacob are both 18 and seniors in high school because I do not feel comfortable writing a romance with that big of an age difference between characters of that age. Let me know if you want this to be mostly fluff or to follow the original storyline of the book. I'm open to either. Also is anyone open to a Jacob/OC imprinting story as well?**

Bella woke from her nightmare with her skin covered in a cold sheen of sweat. It had felt particularly _real _tonight in ways that it hadn't in quite a while. She pushed the covers off of herself and headed into the bathroom. She turned the water onto the coldest setting and splashed it over her face. She was going to see Jacob today. She looked up into the mirror at her dark circles and sad eyes and reminded herself that he didn't get to do this to her. No-one got to do this to her ever again. She was going to fight it this time. He had another thing coming if he thought he was just going to walk away from her the same way _he _had.

She turned and walked out of the bathroom, catching her toe on the door frame and stumbling but catching herself on her way down the same way she did almost twice a day. She checked her phone on her night stand and realized that despite it being only six in the morning on a Saturday, there was no chance of her falling asleep again, at least not with so many things weighing so heavily on her mind. Instead she headed down the stairs, walking past Charlies open door on the way down. He'd been leaving it open so he could hear her screams in the middle of the night for the past few months but he also left it open so that she would know when he left for work. She peaked her head around the corner and was not surprised to find that he was gone, He had probably left to get an early jump on the day.

She headed down the stairs, skipping over the two creaky steps and made her way into the kitchen where she threw together a plate of French toast and then proceeded to spent the next thirty minutes listening to the rain pound on the roof of the house and pick at her food. She quickly realized she didn't have much of an apatite.

Jake obviously didn't have mono. And if he did, that didn't give him the right to just up and cut her out of his life the way he did. She wasn't going to catch it through the freaking phone lines or anything ridiculous like that. She stood up and dropped her plate in the sink and decided to give him one more call before she set herself on the warpath. Well as much of a warpath as Bella Swan knew how to go on that was. IE: Going to his house and asking him what his problem was and why he started acting like a jerk the day after promising her that he would never leave her or let her down the way that _he _had.

She dialed the number and the phone rang and rang and rang and then went to voicemail. Billy's voice spoke to her on their answering machine's prerecorded message just like it had a dozen times before. This time, she didn't even bother to leave a message.

_You've reached residence of Billy and Jacob Black. We're unable to take you're call right now, please leave you're name and phone number after the beep and one of us'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you. _

Bella killed four hours working on an English essay about some book that she had already read over a year ago before she put everything away and got in the shower. She let the water flow over her as she allowed her mind to wonder, to Jake. He'd acted so weird the last day she'd seen him before he had disappeared. He'd been so warm. His skin had radiated heat like a space heater cranked up to max and his temper was off the charts in a way that she had never seen him before. He'd snapped at Mike. Bad. That wasn't like him. Not at all. He was usually such a sweet guy. She rinsed the conditioner out of her hair and turned off the shower, stepping out onto the blue towel she had laid on the floor to absorb the water, she grabbed a towel off the vanity and wrapped it around herself. She stood in front of the mirror and flipped on the blow dryer.

Maybe Jake was sick.

He wasn't acting himself and she couldn't imagine him ever willingly leaving her out of his life. Whatever it was, she was going to find out because she couldn't lose the only thing left that made her happy. She wasn't going to let him walk away.

She knew it was stupid but she could feel something _pulling _her to him. _Pulling _her to La push and she wasn't going to ignore it.

An hour later she was running through the rain to get to her truck and though she had before looked decent she now looked like a drowned rat as she closed the door behind her and slammed the keys into the ignition. Even the stupid truck reminded her of Jake. The motorcycles in the bed and the way he was always keeping it running for her. She backed out of the driveway and started down the road. She was making good time to La Push. She never really had to worry about speeding though she also couldn't go over 60 miles an hour in the truck so having a cop for a dad didn't matter much there.

Eventually, she pulled into the Blacks driveway. Sure enough Jacob was out and walking around and not in bed sick with mono and oh my was he not sickly at all. He looked like he had spent decades in the gym and grown a foot taller. He'd also cut off his hair and gotten a tattoo. He was't wearing a shirt even though it was pouring down rain and he was walking away determinedly with his back to her. She knew that he could hear her truck, how could he not?

She jumped out of the cab and ran after him, stumbling over a rock and catching herself on the hood. She slammed the door of the truck behind her. "Jacob!" She yelled, He froze for a second but then continued walking. "Jake!" She yelled again, "Jake I need to talk to you!" The feeling that she had felt before, of being drawn to him was stronger now. Like she wanted to be near him. She had aways wanted to be around him but this was different though. She wanted to be around him in a different way now. She didn't know why or how but she did and he wasn't cooperating.

He stopped moving, "Bella, you need to leave." He said, still with his back turned to her. She wondered if he felt this need to be near her too.

He did but he always had so his didn't notice a difference. Jacob wanted her to leave but not for the reasons that she thought he did. He only wanted to keep her safe. He wanted her to be safe at home away from him and this mess that he was permanently a part of now. He didn't want her anywhere near it and that meant that she couldn't be anywhere near him. But the way she said his name, the way she begged him to talk to her, and finally when she said quietly, all the fight gone out of her, "Jake, please turn around." He just couldn't take it anymore.

He vowed to himself that he would come up with some really good excuse to keep her away without breaking her heart and then he would get her to leave. He said in Quileute "_Can you go inside. I'll get rid of her and be there in a minute"_ to Sam, Paul, Jared, and Embry waiting at his house. Sam nodded and responded with "_Good luck, remember the treaty."_ And they all headed inside.

"Want to take a walk?" Jake said as he turned around, staring at the ground, he walked a few feet staring at the mud as his bare feet sunk into it. He'd grown accustomed to the feeling. "I'm feeling like taking a walk."

"I want answers Jake." Bella said, grabbing his arm and freezing when she felt how hot it was. Such a contrast to _his _cold stony skin. She spun him to face her and he let her because he let Bella do most of the things that she wanted to do. Still, he kept his eyes on the ground. "Jake look at me." She paused and then an agonized, "Please."

Finally he looked up and met her eyed and god damnit, everything just snapped into place around her. She became the center of his universe. His everything. The only thing that mattered to him. Who cared about anything else? Why should he? He had Bella? He reached out a shaking hand a placed it on her cheek. "I'm so sorry." He said. He didn't know what he was apologizing for. Well he did, for hurting her, but also a little bit for imprinting on her, he never wanted this life for her.

Bella was confused. Once second Jake was refusing to meet her eyes and all she could think about was this connection that she felt pulling her towards him and then he was looking into her eyes that that connection was a thousand times stronger. They were bound together. They were one. She was lost. She'd looked into his eyes a thousand times and nothing like this had ever happened before. Why now. Did it have something to do with mono? Thats when it clicked for her.

He was a werewolf. Sams gang. If the Cullen's were the cold one's and that part of the legends were true, then clearly the rest of them were true too. Thats why Jake and the rest of Sams gang were all buff out of no where and running around half naked and that had to have something to do with why she was randomly in love with Jake.

Jake said quietly, "Bella, I need you to please wait right here." His voice was horse.

Bella nodded slowly. She wasn't scared of him. Jake would never hurt her. So she stood in the pouring rain as Jake took off up the driveway.

Jake ran into the house, slammed the door open and then just stood in the middle of the living room staring at the pack. "She's still here," Paul said, "I can smell her."

Jake nodded.

Sam crinkled his eyebrows, "Whats wrong."

Jake looked over his shoulder, just now realizing that it was still raining and his imprint was standing outside cold and wet and she was probably going to get sick or slip and fall and break her head open. "Something happened that you aren't going to like."

"What?"Embry asked, "Out with it man," He said.

Jake walked over to the window and looked out to see that Bella had gotten into her truck. Luckily the keys were not in the ignition so she wasn't planning on leaving yet. "I imprinted."

No one said a word for a solid two minutes. Then finally Sam said, "Thats great brother, welcome to the club."

"On the leach lover!" Paul yelled "You imprinted on the leach lover!"

Jake growled and made to swing and him but Sam jumped between the two of them, "Paul! Imprints are off limits, you know that."

Paul set his lips. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Jesus Christ. Touchy much."

"Yes where imprints are concerned we are." Sam said. "And Jacob do you want to explain everything to her now or do you want to wait?"

He did a quick run through in his head and decided that if he sent her away again she might never forgive him. "Now."

"Then damn it man, go get her out of the rain before she leaves."

Jacob blinked a couple times then turned and left the house. He froze when he saw Bella. She really was amazing. Breathtaking. How could he ever have left her for so long. How could he have left her standing in the rain?

He jogged to the truck and pulled the door open. She startled and he smiled at her. "Hey," He said, "Want to come inside?"

She nodded slowly after a second and he made to help her down from the truck. After a second she let him, though she looked puzzled. He dropped her hand and walked behind her as they headed into the house. She turned too look over her shoulder at him twice along the way. Whether it was to make sure he was still there or questioning his strange behavior he didn't know.

Jacob closed the front door behind them and she was now locked inside a house with six large men who were most likely werewolves and that didn't bode well for her. She knew they wouldn't hurt her, Jake wouldn't let them but it didn't ease her nerves. "You're shaking Bells," Jake said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms for a moment before walking around her and grabbing a blanket off the back of the couch and throwing it over her shoulders. She swore she was cold, not scared.

"Bella, there are a few things that we would like to explain to you, if you would have a seat." Sam said. She nodded slowly and walked further into the room. Embry stood up and moved off the couch and to the chair in the corner of the room so that Jake could sit by her which was… nice.

Just as Sam opened his mouth to speak again the front door opened and Billy wheeled his way in. "Sorry I'm late boys, I got held up over at… Bella," He stopped short And looked from Jake to Bella to Sam. He seemed to read their faces. Then Sam said something to him in Quileute and he sighed, "Oh my," He said. "Are we doing this now?"

Sam nodded. Jake nodded.

Bella just stared at all of them, then she said, "Are the legends Jake told me last year true?"

"You told her the legends?" Sam demanded.

Jake sighed, "I thought they were just old campfire stories, how was I supposed to know that I was going to grow fur and paws?"

"Oh my god." Bella said, "You're actually werewolves."

Jake nodded, "Don't freak out, please."

"My ex-boyfriend and his family are vampires, I think I can handle this news. Its just a lot to find out." She briefly noted that this was the first time that she had spoken of Edward since he left.

Jake looked pained then turned his face away from her. "Yeah, I know. Anyway there are more legends than that but Sam and my dad are better at telling those than I am."

Billy cleared his throat and began, "Wolves have a way of finding their soulmates. Its called imprinting."

"Imprinting?" She asked, now actually confused.

Jake leaned back against the couch so that he could watch his imprint and the cute confused look on her face. He wished she would stop interrupting so they could explain everything and he could either give her new clothes to wear or take her home to change. He hated watching her shiver. His hand twitched toward her but he stopped it and placed them behind his head to keep himself from touching her.

Sam took over, "When you look into her eyes for the first time after you phase, its like everything falls into place. Its not gravity holding you to the earth anymore, its her. She's the only thing that matters. You would do anything, be anything for her. To protect her. To make her happy. To make her feel cared for. Whatever she needs, thats what you are."

Bella looked at Sam with her mouth hanging open. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"You figured out that we're werewolves but you can't but two and two together?" Paul asked her.

Sam gave him a warning look.

"Bella…" Jake said, leaning forward in his seat and finally allowing himself to touch her, he placed a hand on her arm over the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders and turned her to face him. "I imprinted on you."

"You imprinted on me?" She asked. "Like wolf soulmate, imprinted on me?"

Jake nodded.

Bella took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second, "Okay then I guess that explains a few things." She said and laughed a little awkwardly. She shifted in her wet clothes, still shivering and Jake fought the urge to wrap his arms around her.

"Do you have any questions Bella?" Billy asked.

She nodded, "Yeah, how many of you have imprinted?"

"Just me and Jared." Sam said. "My imprints name is Emily," He said. He had the same dazed happy looking his face that he always had when he talked about her.

Jared spoke for the first time since they'd entered the room, "Mine's name is Kim. She's pretty awesome."

Quill spoke up From the corner, "Emily is like our Pack mom. She cooks for us and makes us cookies after patrols all the time. Patches us up too. Her and Kim are getting pretty good at it."

Bella looked down at her feet dejectedly, already feeling like a bad imprint, she couldn't patch anyone up after a fight. She fainted at the smell of blood.

She stood up from her seat and dropped the blanket on the couch. "It's been a lot, I think I'm going to go home for now."

Jake looked up at her, totally crushed. "Let me take you," He said, "The storms getting worse." It was a bad excuse and they both knew it, but she could see how badly he wanted to be with her and she had to admit that she didn't really want to leave him either.

"How will you get back?" She asked.

He smiled at her, that Jacob smile that always made rays of sunshine break through whatever was going on inside her brain. "I'll run."


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a week since he imprinted on Bella. And in that week she's insisted that she needed some time to think. It had hurt him more than she knew but he didn't know what he expected. She hadn't wanted to be with him before so she wasn't going to just up and change her mind now.

In between school and his mandated patrols around the reservation, he paced the woods around her house just to feel close to her. Finally one day after Charlies cruiser had pulled out of the driveway as he left for work, he walked to the edge of the woods and laid down, his giant head resting on his oversized paws. She pushed the window open, stuck her head out and gazed down at the gorgeous russet wolf she'd seen keeping watch over her for the past week. She waved her arm at him, signaling for him to come into her house. His head perked up and he tilted his head to the side like a confused dog before sprinting off into the woods.

Bella waited for a few moments before he emerged from the woods wearing a pair of cut offs hung loosely on his hips. He made his way to her house and easily scaled the large tree then jumped over onto the roof and through her window.

She stood with her mouth hanging open, "You could have used the door."

"Where's the fun in that, Bells?" He asked her, his hand reaching out to touch her but dropping it quickly not wanting to scare her away. "Whats up?"

"I've had some time to think…" She said before taking a deep breath, "And I hate being away from you. So I don't want to be away from you any more than I have to. I want to try this. I want to be with you. You know, if you want that which… I assume you do since you've been stalking my house for a week."

Before she could finish Jake had enveloped her in a crushing hug that he quickly loosened at her startled squeak. "I'm sorry," He said, "Yes, yes I want to be with you. Obviously."

Bella smiled up at him with her beautiful chocolate eyes. They reminded him of the brownies that he and his mother used to make together before her car accident. Happy memories that were hard to stir up that far back. He wanted to kiss her. More than anything he wanted to kiss her, but he couldn't do that. Again, he couldn't scare her away. "So what do you want to do?" He asked. "Lunch? A movie?"

Bella shook her head at him, "Jake you don't have to try so hard. We've always worked. Now we'll just work differently."

"But I want to make you happy." He protested, "So we should go do things together."

"How about we go cook Lunch together?" She asked. "There's food downstairs in the kitchen just screaming my name. I was supposed to cook for Charlie before he got called in tonight."

Jake smiled at her. She really was perfect. Just hanging out cooking together. It was something that Sam and Emily did all the time that Jacob wanted. Now he had it. "Lets go." He held out a hand for her and she took it.

They made their way down the stairs, stepping over the two creaky ones. Bella released his hand and he sighed at the loss, leaning against one of the cabinets and watching her move around the room, pulling an onion, peppers, and chicken out of the refrigerator and tortillas and some sauces that he couldn't identify from the cabinet next to it. She placed all of the ingredients on the counter and then turned to look at him. "Can you hand me a knife? You're blocking the drawer?"

He smiled at her as he moved back a step and opened the drawer. He pulled out the smallest chopping knife he saw and handed it to her, she frowned and handed it back. "I'm clumsy, Jacob. Not incapable." He sighed and handed her an appropriately sized chopping knife. "Thank you."

"Just don't cut yourself," He said, "I don't like seeing you hurt."

Bella laughed as she pulled out a cutting board and placed the onion on it. She began to chop as she responded, "You've watched me crash a motorcycle into rocks before." She said, "I don't have any idea what you're talking about."

Jake took a step toward her, his hand dragging along the countertop as he walked, "Remember what we said about us feeling the _need _to protect our imprints. Thats why. Bella, I've never liked you being hurt but the thought of you being hurt is different now. So just," He held up his hand and gestured to the knife, she looked up into his eyes and paused in her chopping long enough to do so, "Please be careful."

"I will." She promised. And he knew by the look in her eyes that she was serious. She wouldn't do anything to hurt him. "Now, break out a pan?."

"That I can do." Jake said. He pulled out a pan and threw it on the stove.

Bella finished chopping the onion and moved on to the first pepper. "When was the last time you got a full nights sleep?" She asked him, not looking up.

He hesitated, "Its been a bit." He said. "But we're designed to run on naps when we sleep in wolf form so I've been doing okay."

"Maybe you should take a nap today…"

"No!" Jake protested, "I want to spend the day with you." He finished.

Bella finished chopping the green pepper and pushed it into the pile with the onion and moved onto the red pepper. "Well okay then but that means you have to go home tonight to get some actual sleep."

He didn't like the idea of being that far away from her but he also didn't like the idea of disappointing her or making her worry, so reluctantly he agreed. "Fine. I'll get a good nights sleep if thats what you want."

"I'm sure your dad wants that too. He's called me to check on you twice this week." Bella told him.

Jake mentally noted that his dad was probably a little upset with him for his disappearing act as Bella finished chopping the red pepper and dropped the mixture into the sizzling pan and handed him an old wooden spoon that he vaguely remembered using to mix mud pies with when they were younger and hopped that it had been washed thoroughly.

"Stir that." She said.

He nodded, a small smile playing on his lips. She was in her element. Cooking for Charlie every night and mothering Renee might have had its downfalls but it made her a damn good cook. "Yes ma'am." He said.

She her attention to the tortillas and the sauces but not before he saw the smile on her face.

Twenty minutes later they had everything in the oven and his mouth was watering at the amazing smell of the chicken enchiladas that they, mostly Bella had made. "So," She said, leaning against the counter as she stared at him, "Are we like dating now?"

She had a cute blush in her cheeks and she was staring at her shoes. It made his heart jump too hear her say that. That they could be dating. It was unreal. It was perfect. But she was scared to ask him. She was never scared to talk to him before, now she was and that crushed him. "Yeah, if you want to be. Obviously I want to be. Thats the way imprints work, eventually you fall in love but it doesn't have to start out that way. If you want to try us and not be official… We can do that too."

"You won't be upset if we wait?" Bella asked. Looking up at him through her lashes. "Its just all a lot and we went from being best friends to so much more and I don't want to just declare a relationship, I want it to be special… I want it to be more than that." She rambled on, wanting him to understand, not wanting him to be hurt but knowing that it was an impossibility.

It did hurt him that she wasn't ready to be in a relationship with him. But they were trying and that was progress. "I'm never going to be upset with you Bella."

She smiled at him, "We can still go on dates and hang out and do couple things?" She tried to make it sound better.

Maybe he wasn't hiding his hurt as well as he thought he was. "Bella its fine, I get it. Lets do the dishes before lunch is done." She nodded they moved to the sink. He washed while she dried and put them away. Jake felt his heart lift, he could feel a routine forming.

After eating lunch, Bella decided that they should go watch a movie in the family room. Jake agreed under the pretense that there were no romantic comedies and Bella nodded her head without much of a protest.

They threw in an old Harry Potter movie and hit play. They were only fifteen minutes into the video when Bella turned to him. "Whats the purpose of imprints?"

Jake sighed, Bella always loved her questions. "Well, different people have different theories but no one knows for sure. Some people believe that it is to provide the next generation with the strongest generation of wolves possible. You know, the best genetic match. I think me imprinting on you throws that theory off. You definitely don't even have the wolf gene and I'm the future Alpha of the pack so I should have imprinted on someone with a strong gene if that was the case."

"Whats the other theory?" She asked, looking a little put out by his assessment of their match even though it may be true.

"Some people, like me, believe that it exist as a way to keep us grounded to this earth. To keep us from becoming more animal than man. Also imprints stop aging with their wolves as soon as they hit the same physical age. We believe that the bond exist as a way to keep us in the fight. Give us an incentive to keep phasing and keep protecting the reservation."

Bella nodded, accepting this answer and turning back to the movie though only for a moment before turning back to look into his brown eyes. "Did you always believe that reasoning?"

"Yes."

She looked confused, "Why?"

"We all need some incentive to stay and something to keep us grounded. Now that I've imprinted I can really see that its true. If I happen to be wrong I'll be really shocked."

"So… I'm what keeps you grounded?" She asked slowly, already knowing the answer by the look on his face.

"You always have."

By this point they were sitting so close together on the couch, they could feel each others breath. Bella closed her eyes and breathed in deeply taking in Jacobs woodsy sent. He grinned crookedly and allowed his eyes to fall shut was he moved closer. The smile fell off his lips as he pressed them to hers.

His hand rose to her cheek, it spanned the whole side of her face. He was so warm, like a space heater. She placed her cold hands on his neck and he shivered. She almost smiled against his lips. This was everything they had both imagined and more. They both wanted so much that they couldn't have, so instead they took things slow. Jake licked her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue and she opened her mouth allowing him in. He was so good at this and she wondered who else he'd been kissing. In the entire time she had known him he'd only ever chased her. Were there other girls that he just hadn't told her about? She felt a surge of jealousy strike through her that she didn't know she was capable of when it came to Jake.

Jake backed off and pulled away, feeling that she wasn't into it anymore. He pressed his forehead to hers and they both breathed deeply for a moment. "Whats wrong Bells?" He asked.

"You're good at that." She said after a moment of hesitation.

He paused and backed up to stare at her, "Thats a problem?"

"Who have you been making out with? I mean in the entire time I've known you you've never done anything but chase after me. Were you flirting with me and making out with other girls at the same time?" She asked all in a rush, her cheeks turning a vibrant shade of pink, standing out against her pale skin.

Jake just blinked at her, once, twice, then three times. "Bella have you lost your mind?"

She stared at him for a minute as he stared back and then they burst out laughing.

"Bella I'm eighteen. I knew girls before you moved here. Its nice to know that I can make you jealous just by kissing _you_ though. Thats interesting."

She smacked him on the arm.

"Don't act like you haven't kissed anyone either because we know thats a lie."

Bella paused, trying to decide whether she should tell him this piece of information, "Well I haven't, not like that. Edward wouldn't kiss me for real. He was afraid he would hurt me."

Jake set his jaw at the thought of a _vampire _hurting his _imprint _but he composed himself before he lost control. "You didn't see that as any kind of warning sign?"

"Edward isn't evil." Bella said, "He left to protect me. He's not a good guy but he isn't evil."

Jake hated hearing her defend him. It made his blood boil. He wasn't sure if he could keep control of himself if they kept on this conversation. "Lets talk about something else." He said.

"Why?" She asked, his Bella. Always one for the questions.

"I just don't want to talk about vampires. Its all I get to talk about at pack meetings, you know? To much of the same old thing."

Bella seemed to roll this thought over in her head for a moment, she clearly didn't believe him but let it slide. "Okay." Then it was back to the movie.

He didn't do much watching, he mostly replayed the kiss over and over again in his head. At some point, she started to shiver and he wrapped an arm around her. She snuggled into his side and rested her head on his chest as he laid back on the couch. Eventually toward the point of the movie where someone steals the diary from Harrys dormitory, she fell asleep laying on his chest. He grabbled the throw blanket off the back of the couch and threw it over them. "This was just a ploy to get me to take a nap wasn't it." He whispered quietly into the air. As he drifted off to sleep with his arms still wrapped around her.

**AN: Please leave a review and let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

Jacob woke what couldn't have been much more than two hours later to the sound of the pack howling in the distance. His eyes sprang open and he lightly shook Bella awake. "Bells?" He said quietly. "Bells wake up. I have to go."

She woke groggily and climbed off of his chest, "What? What time is it?"

"I don't know but its important or they wouldn't be calling me right now. I have to go." He lightly lifted her off of him and crawled out from under her. "I'll be back when I can."

He hesitated before kissing her, not wanting to press his already excellent luck. She pressed her lips firmly to his, "Be careful with… whatever."

He nodded and turned, running out the front door and into the tree line. He pulled off his shorts and tied them around his ankle before phasing. The shift came naturally, something that hadn't happened before he imprinted. Another reason he believed that the imprints were there to keep them grounded, to encourage the connection between man and animal.

_Where have you been? We've been calling you for ten minutes. _Sam growled in his head.

He didn't have to answer, images of the day flashed through his head, starting with Bella telling him that she wanted to make things work and ending with them sleeping on the couch together, their kiss on repeat somewhere in between. None of that mattered though. Because the second he phased he saw what was happening through the packs eyes and he took off like the pissed off werewolf that he was.

_Bloodsucker passed onto our land. He was stalking one of our people when Paul picked up the scent. _Jared filled him in. They were pursuing, but not fast enough, he was going to get away into Forks. Luckily Jake was already there.

_Jake don't take him on alone. _Paul thought at him. _You've never taken on a cold one before. You don't know what they're capable of._

Images of the scar on Bellas arm flashed through his mind. He might not know the story behind it but he knew a bloodsucker bite when he saw it. How she hadn't gotten turned he didn't know but he was thankful. He felt a collective growl build among the pack. No one liked the thought of an imprint getting bitten by a vampire. It was a downright horrible thought.

None of them liked the thought of anyone getting bitten by a vampire.

Sam hadn't ordered him not to go after the vampire alone though and they would get to him fast enough regardless so he picked up speed in the direction the vampire had been headed in when the pack had lost sight of him. He could tell from Pauls thoughts that he was angry with him for not listening, though more worried for his safety than anything else.

Sam wasn't protesting at all. He believed in Jake. He was the future alpha of the pack. He was built to take on blood suckers like this. He was built to do this. _Pick up the scent Jake. You can do it. You have to find him before he hits the main town. _

Jake jumped across a highway that was luckily empty and as he did he hit the scent. Perfect. Well, not perfect, the smell fried his nostrils, like sickly sweet like bleach only stronger and worse. Like everything horrible he had ever smelled mixed up into one. He wanted to hold his breath but instead he breathed it in deep and turned to run in the direction that made the smell the strongest.

He pushed himself, picking up speed until he could see the vampire ahead of him. Pale skin and brown hair, he was wearing a white shirt that was so crisp Jakes sharp eyes could see it folding with his movements and a pair of jeans. He looked like the average teenager. If it wasn't for his horrible scent and his inhuman speed, you would have thought he was just another student who attended Forks high school with Bella.

He was close now, just a few feet behind the vampire, and he looked nervous, glancing over his shoulder at Jake to see how much ground he was gaining on him. That was his fatal mistake. He slowed down just enough for Jake to pounce. He jumped, digging his claws into the vampires back and taking him down. The bloodsucker hissed at him and used all of his strength to send Jacob flying into a tree a few feet away, he bounced back up; always resilient. He snarled, showing his teeth as they circled each other.

_Keep him distracted _Sam said _We're almost there_.

Jacob pounced again, ripping his teeth into the bloodsuckers arm. He severed it, and sent if flying off into the woods. _Does that count as a distraction?_

_No now he's going to put himself back together and he's angry. _Jared said in his head, his mind flashed to an image of the first vampire they'd fought, piecing itself back together, fingers slowly inching the hand back to the rest of the arm, the arm back to the torso, the torso back to the head and so on. Jake stared at the fire in the blood suckers eyes as he gazed at the monstrously sized wolf standing in front of him.

"Judah will kill you."

_Who the hell is Judah? _Jake asked in his head. For once noting that having a mind reader around would come in handy. _I really hope he's talking about himself in the third person and he doesn't have any friends. _

Jake pounced again but this time the vampire was faster and he dogged out of the way, disappearing into the woods and reappearing a moment later with his arm reattached to his body. _There went that plan. _Just as Jake was starting to really doubt his plan to take on the vampire alone without ever having faced one before, the rest of the pack bursted through the tree line, surrounding him in all directions. _Judah is gonna be disappointed. _Jake thought. As he pounced on the vampire who was to busy looking at all of the wolves and trying to decide how to escape to notice him. Jake sunk his teeth into his neck and ripped off his head. The vampire let out a sickening scream and the sound of his head coming off was like nothing he had ever heard before. Like metal on metal only worse. Like nails on a chalkboard times infinity. But some instinctual part of him _enjoyed _it.

The rest of the pack went after him too, grabbing a foot, an arm, a leg, chunks of his torso. He was never going to stalk prey on their land again. Whoever Judah was, was going to get that message.

When he was thoroughly dismembered, they phased back to their human forms and pulled on their shorts. Jake held his ribs where he'd hit the tree, he'd been thrown against that tree hard enough to kill any normal human and he'd already healed to the point of minor bruising. "Good job Jake," Sam said. "You okay?"

He nodded and dropped his hand, "Yeah, just a little sore. It'll be gone in half an hour."

Sam nodded. "Maybe less." He turned to the rest of the pack, "Okay boys, lets gather up the pieces, Emily and Kim are cooking dinner. Don't want to be late."

Jake joined the rest of the pack as they picked up the pieces of what had previously been a vampire that either weirdly talked in the third person and was named Judah or has a friend named Judah who would probably come for them in the near future. He really hoped it was the first option.

Once all of the pieces were stacked in a pile, Sam handed Jake a box of matches. "You took off the head, you do the honors."

"Really?" Jake asked as he took the box of matches. Sam nodded. He slid the match along the side of the box and watch as it burst into flame. Then he dropped it onto the pile of stony blood sucker parts. They went up in flame like thats what they were designed to do. He supposed they were. It was probably a design flaw on their part but a definite advantage on theirs.

"Okay lets head out." Sam said, "And hey Jake, Bella's welcome to come to dinner tonight if you want to bring her. I believe Emily made hamburgers."

Jake smiled at him. Sam was a pretty cool guy. "I'll ask her. She doesn't want to be official yet so I don't know what that means for stuff like that. I don't want to push her to much, you know."

"Yeah, but you should still ask. Maybe she'd appreciate it. I hear from your dad that she has to cook for Charlie every night. Maybe she'd like a break once in a while."

Jake thought about this for a second and had to admit that this sounded like a feasible idea. "I'll ask. No promises that she'll say yes though."

"Got it, brother." Sam said, then he ran off into the trees and disappeared with the rest of the pack and Jake was alone with the burning vampire.

Bella sat on the couch staring at her phone for a solid half an hour waiting to hear from Jake before she realized that he wouldn't go home, he would come here, and there was no way whatever was happening would be over that quickly. She decided to call Charlie to check on him.

The phone rang three times before he picked up. Finally he did. "Hey, Bella, whats wrong?"

"Nothing, Dad. I just wanted to make sure you were okay." She said. "I hadn't herd from you all day and I just wanted to check in."

He was clearly confused because she rarely checked in unless there was some mysterious anomaly going on in forks like strange animal sitings or inhuman attacks. Instead she was just checking up out of nowhere. "I'm fine, Bella. Just working on some paperwork. What have you been up to all day?"

"Hanging out with Jacob."

There was a slight pause, "You and Jake are friends again?"

"We never really stopped being friends, dad, we were just busy for a while."

"You were definitely not busy, Bella." He said, then in the typical Charlie fashion deciding to avoid any talk of emotion and other serious matters that teenage girls would get involved in, "I guess you're right."

"Always am dad."

The line went silent for a moment and then, "Listen Bella, I've gotta get back to work. And I'm going to go out to get dinner at the diner with Billy tonight so don't worry about cooking for me tonight."

"Okay dad. See you later." She said and they hung up the phone, twirled the phone in her hand. Forty five minutes. It had only been forty-five minutes since he left. How was she supposed to kill time now that she couldn't even cook dinner? She dropped her phone on the end table and headed up the stairs to her bedroom, deciding that she would try to focus on a good book. She didn't have many here. She hadn't been to the book store in Seattle in forever and she had already finished the three books she'd gotten last time she'd been there. She'd spent fifteen minutes perusing her shelves and just picked up the a book that she decided she was okay with rereading when there was a knock on her window.

She spun around to find Jake standing in the tree branches on the opposite side of the glass. She raced over to the window and unlatched it, swinging it open just as he jumped through it with a smile on his face. "You should leave it open when you're expecting me. Its easier than hanging from the limbs."

"Last time I left my window open a vampire let himself into my room and watched me sleep, which I'm now realizing is not exactly normal, especially when you barely know each other at the time." She said, so I'm going to keep the window closed until you knock and I make sure its you out there."

Jacob set his jaw. He was beginning to hate this guy more and more. As if him being a blood sucker wasn't enough, he had to be a creep to match. Not that they weren't all creeps, but he had an extra level of creep factor in Jakes mind that Bella seemed to not take seriously at all. In fact, judging by the small laugh she gave when she said it, she found it funny.

Jake shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts from his mind. _Focus, Black _he told himself hating the way any mention of Edward made his blood boil and it seemed to not bother her at all now. Which was a vast improvement of the way things had been just two weeks ago.

"So how late is your dad working?" He asked her, twirling her desk chair around and sitting down in it.

She scrunched her eyebrows together, "Uh… why?"

"I was just wondering if you had to cook him dinner." Jake said explaining in a rush, realizing that maybe he should have just lead with that because when half naked and alone asking when the parents will be home might not have the best connotations.

She shook her head, "No, he's going out to the diner with your dad tonight."

Jake silently thanked his father and smiled at Bella, "Thats awesome," He said, "Because Emily and Kim made hamburgers tonight to celebrate a successful hunt-"

"As successful hunt?" She cut him off, "What does that mean?"

Jake paused. He hadn't really meant to say that. At least not like that. And definitely not before she agreed to go to the dinner. "The pack tracked a vampire through tribal land. He wasn't like the Cullen's Bella. He was stalking a girl on La Push. He was going to kill her. So we took him out."

She looked a little bit upset and part of Jake wanted to rip the Cullen's a new one for brainwashing her into thinking all vampires were good and deserved to live. But then she did something that he didn't expect. She ducked down and wrapped her arms around him. "You could have gotten hurt. Vampires like that are dangerous."

"Bella all vampires are dangerous. Some are just good at hiding it." Jake said quietly. "And I'm not going to get hurt, You've seen me. I'm made to take them out. It's in my blood."

"Then why do I see bruises?" She asked, pointing to his torso where there was a line the with of the tree trunk (essentially the majority of his torso) covered in light bruising.

He smiled at her as he pushed her back which almost physically pained him to do, "If I didn't heal at superhuman speed, I would be dead from internal bleeding right now. But I do, so I don't even feel it. I'm basically invincible by your standards. I might not be able to put myself back together like those marble assholes can but I'm pretty tough in my own ways." He placed her hand over his bruise and said, "This was a thousand times worse when it happened forty five minutes ago. Now you can barely see it. They can throw me around like a rag doll. I'll just get right back up and come back for more."

"Thats what I'm afraid of." Bella said quietly, lacing her fingers with his.

Jake rolled his eyes, "Now like I was saying, Emily and Kim are making dinner. I think its hamburgers. They're not as good of cooks as you are but they're still pretty close. So I was thinking maybe we could go hang out with the pack for awhile if, you know, you're cool with that?"

Bella backed up a few steps, "I don't know, I don't get the feeling that they like me very much."

"You're my imprint. They're literally incapable of disliking you." Jake reassured her. Pauls little blow ups had ended the first time they phased together and he got a glimpse of how much he loved her. It was game over then. Now the whole pack was dedicated to her.

She stared at him for a moment, then dropped down and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. It was nothing crazy, just there and then gone, but it was enough to calm the wolf inside of him that screamed for him to be _closer closer closer _to her all the time no matter how close they were.

"What was that for?" He asked, looking up into her chocolate eyes.

She smiled at him, trapping him between her arms in the chair. "I'm glad you're okay Jake."

"So will you go with me to dinner?"

Bella sighed a long suffering sigh like she couldn't believe that he really had such a one track mind. He couldn't believe it either. All he could think about right now though was getting his imprint to the pack where she would be safely protected by his brothers on the reservation. "Yes," She said, "I'll go to dinner with you."

They pulled up to Sam and Emily's house in Bella's truck forty minutes later. When they walked in the door Jared was giving Kim a play by play of the chase.

"So then Jake phases in and he's still like half asleep. He's Determined that he's going to catch this vampire before it gets to Forks. So he goes after it and sure as shit he rips his arm of and this guy gets so mad!"

Bella turns to look at Jake, "You took down the vampire alone?"

Jake shook his head, "No, I had help. Otherwise he wouldn't be so excited to tell this story."

"So this guy goes all, 'Judah will kill you!' And Jake is like 'Sucks bro' and pounces again and then this guy throws him against a tree and runs off to find his arm."

Kim and Emily both stop laughing to look over at Jake, they give him a once over to make sure he's still in once piece before turning back to their previous task of placing all of the food on the table as they listen to Jared's story. "Then this dude comes back with his arm reattached and comes after Jake and right as Jake is about to go after him again we all get there. Then Jake just goes for it and rips his freaking head off."

It was a pretty short version and they left out the part where the vampire was stalking a girl on the reservation. They made it sound more funny than dangerous. Jake could tell from the look on Bella's face that she knew though. She knew how dangerous these vampires were even if Jared sugar coated the story for her. She'd been attacked before. "Who is Judah?" Emily asked as she set the last of three plates piled high with hamburgers on the table.

"We don't know," Sam answered her, "Jake was hoping that he was just a weird guy who talked about himself in the third person." He placed five bags of hamburger buns on the table. "I don't think we're that lucky."

"Honestly I don't either," Jake said. "I was just being an optimist." He took Bella's hand reassuringly and pulled her further into the room. The house was nice. Sam had bought it after he opened up the construction company that he used to employ the older pack members. It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms, they wanted to make sure the pack had a place to crash if they were ever hurt or just didn't have anywhere else to go. Sam, being the alpha always felt that he had to protect everyone in his pack.

It was a log cabin type, with exposed wood beams on all the walls. The dining room was huge with a large table to fit the whole pack and all of the imprints with room to grow. All in all it was the exact type of house that Jacob wanted to buy for he and Bella some day. He pulled Bella into the dining room and encouraged her into a seat across from where Kim had just sat down. He took a seat next to her and smiled at her as she looked nervously around the room.

"So, Bella." Emily said, "What do you like to do in your free time?" She paused when she got a strange look from Sam, "What, I want to get to know her. I already knew Kim. I've only heard of Bella."

"And not good things," Bella added. When there was only silence she added, "Just addressing the elephant in the room." With a flush in her cheeks she answered Emilys question. "I like to cook and read. Mostly I work on homework. I was trying to get a scholarship but thats mostly gone now so the chances of me going anywhere accept the community college are slim. I'm thinking about getting a job at the diner to pay my way through school."

"That sounds like a good plan," Emily said, her hand resting over Sams. He intertwined their fingers and it was just then that Bella realized that hers and Jacobs finger were still interlocked. "You're a senior right? Like Jake?"

"Yeah. I graduate in May." She answered, wishing that someone else would become the center of attention. She never liked answering questions about herself.

Kim piped up now, "Hey, do you like to garden?"

"I never really had much of a chance. Nothing grows in Arizona. But I've always thought it looked interesting." She answered. She saw Jake and Jared smile at each other and wondered what kind of plan they had worked up.

"Well, you see we're planting a garden out back Thursday afternoon. You know, to cut the cost of feeding all these wolves over here. I was wondering if you wanted to come join us." She directed her attention to Jake. "An extra set of hands would help and Jake has patrol so its not like we would be keeping you apart or anything."

Bella thought about it for a second. "If Emily is okay with it… It is her garden."

"Of course I'm okay with it," She enthused, a smile on her face, crinkling her eyes around her scar. Bella didn't have to ask what the scar was from. She knew it was from a wolf. She did wonder how it happened though. She made a mental note to ask Jake later. "You're always welcome, Bella."

"Then of course I'll come," She said and as everyone dug into the hamburgers, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, and fruit salad on the table the flush finally faded from Bella's cheeks. She let go of Jacobs hand and began to make her plate, slowly, though Jacob moved to help her do it with more speed before the men took all of the food when he realized that she was hesitating before jumping into the hoard of russet skinned hands grabbing for food.

She thanked him as she sat back in her chair and laughed as she told him when to stop. She imagined that he would have just kept piling food on her plate until it was enough for him if she hadn't pushed his hand away. With everyone talking and laughing and even including Bella in it, it looked and felt like a family. Like an episode of full house where they were just missing the theme song music playing over them. Only they were a family of werewolves and their imprints and their job was to hunt vampires.

She realized that for the first time she was glad that Edward had left her. She wanted this. She wanted to be with Jake. She turned to him with a smile on her face and he shook his head confused, "Whats up?"

She stared at him for a second, then looked around the room, taking everything in before looking back at him, "I'm just really happy. It's been a long time since I've been really happy."

**AN: Please review and let me know what you think!**


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